the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

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emphasis is made on the political speeches of the clergy abroad against Soviet
power. Secondly, it is to declare not only his own loyalty and nonparticipation
from now on in any speeches against Soviet power, but also his
inner union with it against its foreign and internal enemies, as being his own
enemies, that is, the enemies of the Orthodox Church.”
To the question: what should be our attitude to this epistle, Bishop Victor
replied: “What is written in the epistle does not correspond to the truth and
reality: the True Orthodox Church always had to be apolitical and spiritual,
and for that reason it was not and cannot be in any active external struggle
with Soviet power. But clergy can be subject to punishments either as private
citizens for their political crimes outside their relationship to the Church, or as
confessors of the Orthodox Church. As regards the union of the Church and
Soviet power on the basis of spiritual interests and needs, sympathies and
shared joys, etc., there never can be anything of the sort, since the views on
life of the Church and Soviet power are diametrically opposed to each other.
The aims of the activity of Soviet power are exclusively material-economic
and are foreign to faith in God, while the aims of the activity of the Church
are exclusively spiritual-moral, and through faith in God they raise man
beyond the bounds of earthly life to attain the eternal heavenly good things.
Therefore in defining the mutual relations of the True Church and every state,
we can talk only about a relationship in the plane of civil duty and obligation,
and this not out of fear but for conscience’s sake.
“… The epistle, by covering itself with the words of Holy Scripture and
reasonings from the sphere of the spiritual interests of man, masks the
drawing of the Church into the sphere of earthly tasks, thereby diminishing
the Holy Orthodox Church, humiliating it and inexorably pushing it onto the
path of new earthquakes and divisions. Therefore it demands not only careful
attention, but outright rejection.”
In the autumn of 1927 it appears that Metropolitan Sergius sent Bishop
Victor a decree abolishing the Votkinsk diocese. In October Bishop Victor
wrote to Metropolitan Sergius asking him to confirm the existence of the
newly-created Votkinsk diocese and not allow the Votkinsk flock to be
divided administratively “into five parts”. He wrote: “I am writing this out of
sorrow for the Holy Orthodox Church.
“Dear Vladyko! You know, it is not so long ago that you were our brilliant
helmsman, and for all of us our most longed-for first pastor, and the mere
mention of your most holy name poured strength and joy into our hearts.
And suddenly – such a sad change for us. Our minds are wavering, our hearts
have lost their support, and we feel that we are again without a leader and
defender from those who attack us, and this is from the time that your
counsellors surrounded you. Our souls are exhausted, we are horrified at the
sight of what is now happening around us in the Church, it’s oppressing us
like a nightmare, and everyone is overwhelmed by a terrible fear for the
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